GUARDIANUK

Mounties carry out operation in Strathroy, Ontario, with public safety minister announcing ‘proper course of action’ was taken after credible threat

Armed police in Strathroy, Ontario, where a terror suspect was killed. Photograph: Geoff Robins/AP

A suspect was killed when Canada’s national police force thwarted what an official said was a suicide bomb plot.

A senior police official said late on Wednesday that the suspect allegedly planned to use a bomb to carry out a suicide bombing mission in a public area but was killed in a police operation.

Canadian reports and police cited by the Associated Press said the operation centred on Aaron Driver, a man in his mid-20s and originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who had sympathised with the Islamic State group on social media and was under a court order not to associate with any terrorist group, including Isis.

In February, Driver’s lawyer and the prosecutor agreed to a peace bond stating there were “reasonable grounds to fear that he may participate, contribute directly or indirectly in the activity of a terrorist group.”

A police operation continued well into Wednesday night in the southern Ontario town of Strathroy, about 140 miles (225km) south-west of Toronto.

In Strathroy, resident Irene Lee said late on Wednesday that police had been camped out near her parents’ convenience store since about 4.15pm. At about that time, she said, she was at her home close by when she heard a loud noise. Shortly afterwards a police officer came by to tell residents to stay inside their homes.

Lee said there were up to 25 marked and unmarked cruisers outside a home on a street right behind her parents’ store.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it halted a possible attack after receiving credible information of a potential terrorist threat.

The force said a suspect was identified and the “proper course of action has been taken” to ensure there was no danger to public safety.

The Canadian public safety minister Ralph Goodale said he had spoken to Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, about the events “to confirm that public safety has been and continues to be properly protected”.

The RCMP, Canadian Security Intelligence Service and other police and security agencies were involved in the operations, Goodale said.

“These agencies conducted themselves effectively in the circumstances that developed today,” Goodale said.

The national terrorism threat level for Canada remained at medium where it had stood since the fall of 2014, Goodale said.